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The Milwaukee Repertory Theater showcases Deborah Staples in its upcoming one-woman show The Amish Project by Jessica Dickey. This unique piece of historical fiction is about the 2006 shooting at a Pennsylvania schoolhouse on the Nickel Mines Amish settlement. “It’s loosely based on the actual incident…[but] is not a detailed breakdown of that event as it happened,” says Rep Artistic Director Mark Clements. “The play is trying to talk about broader issues then just what happened on that day.”
The show takes an in-depth look at the Amish tradition of forgiveness and, according to Staples, “challenges how we respond to grief and pain, asking the audience and the characters, ‘What are the limits and possibilities of compassion and forgiveness?’ Playwright Dickey, who won the CAPPIE Award for Best Play with The Amish Project, says she was aware throughout the entire writing process that people went through this event and that, “in an effort to balance the conflicting desires to remain sensitive to the real people who were affected by the shooting, while giving myself creative license to write an unflinching play,” she purposefully did not research the gunman or his widow, or conduct interviews of any kind.
According the Clements, it’s a play that, once you see it, lives with you forever.
The Amish Project is directed by Leda Hoffmann and runs Feb. 11-March 22 at the Stiemke Studio, 108 E. Wells St. For tickets, call 414-224-9490 or visit milwaukeerep.com.
Theatre Happenings
■ Suki Morihoto is a class rep at Kamata Junior High dealing with tests, clubs, bullies, creeper teachers, a strange transfer student who won’t stop staring at her and, of course, saving the world. Quasimondo Milwaukee Physical Theatre’s Kamikaze Cutesauce: Cosplay Club runs Feb. 6-22 at Studio G (161 W. Wisconsin Avenue); for tickets, call 414-702-0392 or visit thequasimondo.com.
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■ Cabaret Milwaukee presents an encore of its noir crime series, kicking off the first installment of a trilogy with The Jealous Revolver: Episode 1, at The Best Place Tavern (901 E. Juneau Ave.). Parts two and three will follow this year at the Brumder Mansion. Show runs Feb. 12-15; for tickets, call 414-499-5108 or visit cabaretmke.com.
■ Milwaukee Youth Theatre presents Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, adapted and directed by Brandon Herr, Thursday, Feb. 12 and Friday, Feb. 13 at the Lincoln Middle School of the Arts (820 E. Knapp St.). For tickets, call 414-390-3900 or visit milwaukeeyouththeatre.org.
■ Marquette Theatre reveals the exploits of six young Parisian lovers with David Ives’ adaptation of Pierre Corneille’s 17th-century play, The Liar, which runs Feb. 12-22. For tickets, call 414-288-7504 or visit showclix.com/events/marquettetheatre.
■ Neil Haven’s Stuck, a charming comedy about an agoraphobic elevator operator, takes the stage at Memories Ballroom Dinner Theater Feb. 13-22. For tickets, call 262-284-6850 or visit memoriesballroom.com.
■ Soulstice Theatre presents the Wisconsin premiere of the contemporary rock musical BARE: A Pop Opera, which follows a group of teenagers in a co-ed Catholic boarding school. Play runs Feb. 13-March 1; for tickets, call 414-481-2800 or visit soulsticetheatre.org.
■ Windfall Theatre presents the Milwaukee premiere of Prin by Andrew Davies, a show about the principal of a teachers’ college in England and her fight to retain her authority. The play runs Feb. 13-28 at Village Church Arts, 130 E. Juneau Ave.; for tickets, call 414-332-3963 or visit windfalltheatre.com.
■ Village Playhouse of Wauwatosa’s upcoming show by David Ives, All in the Timing, features six one-act comedies about love, monkeys using typewriters and a man who’s fallen into “a Philadelphia,” as well as a musical vignette in trademark Glassian style and variations on the demise of Trotsky. Show runs Feb. 13-March 1 at Inspiration Studios, 1500 S. 73rd St. For tickets, call 414-207-4879 or visit villageplayhouse.org.
